Trey Gowdy Blasts Obama On Immigration Reform

On Thursday’s edition of The O’Reilly Factor, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-South Carolina) outlined three different avenues congressional Republicans could take in the event President Obama exercises executive action on amnesty.

President Obama could take action on immigration after returning from his Asia trip as early as next week; and as The Washington Post reported, one proposal being considered could “shield as many as 6 million undocumented immigrants from deportation.”

When O’Reilly asked Gowdy what Republicans would do, he led with “persuasion.” “Number one, we need to persuade our fellow citizens that from 2008 to 2010 when he had the House and the Senate and the White House, he didn’t do a damn thing about immigration,” Gowdy said.

“So why can’t he give the Republican House and Senate three months, six months, nine months to do what he wasn’t able to do in two years? So the first tool is persuasion.”

O’Reilly agreed, adding that he has made similar arguments on his program, then asking what else Gowdy believes the GOP will do. “He just needs to understand up front. If he wants a solution, he’ll wait. If he wants an issue for their candidate to run in 2016, then he do what he’s planning on doing,” said Gowdy.

“The second tool is the appropriations process, but frankly that is a tool best wielded in the spring, and not in December where we’re staring at an omnibus or comprehensive spending, but we have the Senate.

“And ‘Advise and Consent,’ specifically with this new Attorney General, ask U.S. Attorney Lynch, ‘What are the limits of prosecutorial discretion? What laws does he actually have to enforce? Are election laws subject to his whim and caprice?’

“Be very tough with ‘Advise and Consent,’ be very thoughtful with the appropriations process, and all the while persuade our fellow citizens, this is not a fight with the Republicans, it’s a fight with the people who founded this Republic, it’s not the way to pass law.”

This was a sampling of reaction from fans of Gowdy on social media:

@TGowdySC Just heard you on O’Reilly-great piece. “Fellow citizens” is a great catch line. Like to see (and hear) a lot more of you